Ja Morant, Desmond Bane carry load as Grizzlies hold off Pelicans
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) celebrates a three-point basket during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Matthew Hinton/AP Photo)
NEW ORLEANS — It’s an axiom of the NBA that any road win is a good win.
On Sunday night in New Orleans, the Grizzlies were coming off a rest day against a team with a 17-47 record, one that had lost by 29 points the night before in Houston and was playing without its star (Zion Williamson) and its veteran backcourt (CJ McCollum and DeJounte Murray).
For the fifth straight game, the Grizzlies trailed at the half.
But led by an aggressive Desmond Bane, the Grizzlies got back into the game with a 14-2 run to start the third quarter. And then Ja Morant scored 11 of the team’s final 16 points to take them home.
Even then, the Pelicans missed two 3-pointers in the final seconds that could have forced overtime.
Unlike in three straight losses on their home floor last week, the Grizzlies were not the victim of an opponent’s buzzer-beating clutch shot this time.
Grizzlies 107, Pelicans 104.
So … good win?
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Chris Herrington
Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He and his wife have two kids and, for reasons that sometimes elude him, three dogs.
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